The ABC of the official advertising: these are all the media that receive money from the Argentine State

Hundreds of thousands of media outlets in Argentina receive official advertising from the State.

Here is everything you need to know to see if your favorite media survives, thanks to the taxes paid by all Argentines.

This month we inaugurate the section “Lo Que Los Medios Callan” in La Derecha Diario, a response to a hegemonic media system in Argentina that uses as its lifeline discretionary transfers from the State through a system of covert subsidies known as “pauta oficial” (official agenda).

In a perverse system that has existed as long as the internet has existed, the Argentine State finances the media it wants through this deception.

Without a call for bids and a discernible pattern of how to quantify the payments, money is sent to the media by the unilateral decision of the State in exchange for placing advertising of the National Government on their web pages, television, and radio programs.

Of course, this is an excuse since the transfers are arbitrary and come directly from the presidential office.

In this way, Casa Rosada chooses by hand which media will receive these longed-for state advertising and which will not.

La Derecha Diario is the only media in Argentina with a significant number of monthly visits that do not receive any kind of advertising from the State.

Any advertising that one can find on this site comes from Google.

We have rejected multiple proposals of this type since all of them are conditioned by “don’t hit this one,” “speak well of this one,” or “don’t say anything about this topic.”

From this position, we have the journalistic responsibility to point out those who are conditioned so that the reader of La Derecha Diario understands that what is written here comes from a place of total and absolute freedom of the press and expression.

Below, you will find a list of all the official advertising issued by the National Government between September 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022.

It is important to clarify that with the eye of a person who is in May 2023, these prices may have been a little outdated due to Argentina’s brutal inflation.

The column to look at is the one that reads “Grand Total”.

On the first page, you will find a summary of each media type:

Websites, cable and broadcast TV, AM and FM radio, newspapers or magazines on paper, street posters, official advertising in social networks, and the cinema.

As of April 30 last year, the National Government, currently led by the Frente de Todos, spent $8,679 million, which, as of March 31 this year, is equivalent to $16,721 million or US$77.7 million (at official value).

It should also be clarified that these values are only the official advertising paid by the National Government in the period mentioned above.

It would be necessary to add the expenditures of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, all the Provincial Governments, and the cities, municipalities, and municipalities throughout the country that have their budgets for “official advertising,” which will be discussed in a future article.

The big media is expected to have more official advertising since it is the best way to disseminate State advertising to reach large audiences.

However, the State does not quantify or call for bids to decide where to place official advertising, so it ends up being arbitrary.

Official Advertising – Broadcast and Cable TV

In broadcast TV, the three main recipients of transfers from Casa Rosada are Telefé, El Trece, and América.

In Cable TV, they are TN, C5N, and Crónica.

However, hundreds of channels receive official advertising.

Official Advertising – Graphics

In the physical media, Clarín, Diario Popular, and La Nación comprise the podium of the largest recipients of State money.

Despite Alberto Fernández’s Kirchnerist rhetoric, Grupo Clarín remains the big winner.

It is also important to look at the smaller media that receive huge amounts of government advertising, including Perfil, El Economista, La Prensa, and Diario El Liberal, which may seem independent to many but are not.

Official Advertising – Radio

Once again, media outlets that seem to be opponents are in the first three positions of those who receive the most from the State.

Radio Mitre, Radio 10, and Radio 750 lead the State expenditures for AM.

For FM, La 100, ASPEN, and Radio POP.

El Destape, Radio Con Vos, Radio Disney, Rock and Pop, and Vorterix also stand out, receiving millions monthly from the State.

Official Advertising – Web Pages

Perhaps the most interesting to analyze for the readers of La Derecha Diario, direct competitors receive billions of pesos monthly to maintain their structures.

In this case, Infobae.com, Clarin.com, LaNacion.com.ar, ElDestapeWeb.com, and Perfil.com are Argentina’s five largest recipients of official advertising.

Again, most of them supposedly oppose the government.

It is interesting to highlight media such as iProfesional.com, LaPoliticaOnline.com, ElEconomista.com, LetraP.com, Infocielo.com, Mdzol.com, ElLiberal.com.ar, LibertadDigital.com.ar, among many others that claim to be independent, have the same or fewer numbers of visits than La Derecha Diario, but receive millions of pesos from the State.

We ask the reader to put in the search engine of the pdf files your favorite news website and see how much money it receives from the State.

We assure you that it will appear.

Read the pdf files here.